YEP Letters: January 30

NO DOUBT many unfortunate people who suffer with some form of terminal cancer will be really concerned at the decision by the Government to withdraw the funds that help to finance some new drugs that are still in the experimental stages but have had some good results in recent tests.

Have the Government in their wisdom given any thought about reducing the amount of overseas aid and using the surplus to make these drugs available on the NHS to the many desperate people who are relying on them so they can stay around a litle longer to be with their loved ones?

No doubt the powers that be will be familiar with the old saying: “Charity begins at home”.

Human Rights stifling safety

Roger Watkinson, Halton

Theresa May said that many Jewish people are afraid to stay in the UK. I was born and bred in the UK and have lived here all my life and as a pensioner I am also afraid.

None of the MPs, the Prime Minister or anyone in this government will stand up to Brussels.

We have got murderers, rapists, burglars and muggers in this country that we cannot deport as our government will not stand up to Brussels and tell them the Human Rights laws don’t work.

They say these people have a right to family life in this country. What about the people in the country who were born and bred here that are afraid to walk the streets at night?

Get rid of the Human Rights law and let our country be safe. We are harbouring far too many criminals from other countries and it must stop before the situation gets even worse.

Something has to give over NHS

Brian Johnston, Burmantofts

Bernard Duffy (Your Feedback, January 15) rightly condemns Labour’s abysmal record on the NHS, as well as rank hypocrisy of the mess bequeathed to the nation.

The saying ‘politics and medicine don’t mix’ is so true, in using the NHS as a political football as the tribal Left always do.

One major criticism of the NHS – never ever mentioned – is the ‘poaching’ of skilled medical staff from poor countries. This picture of NHS hospitals full of foreign medics – many with poor English – is used as an image of the benefits of immigration. This is a falsehood.

Their employment here is hard to justify morally, given that poor countries have trained them, to be then ‘poached free’ by a rich country, leaving a shortage of medical staff behind.

About 35 per cent of all NHS medics are foreign, with only five per cent in France and Germany, with far superior health care. Our medical schools turn out top class graduates, but can’t find places because of the hiring, on the cheap, foreign medics.

There still remains strong support for State funding for the NHS. But all politicians know that demand in a growing population is ‘infinite’, but the public’s willingness to pay is ‘finite’.

Many professionals in the NHS believe that ‘free at the point of use’ is becoming unsustainable, so something has to give. As yet, no politician dare give us the answer.

Help to honour airman Jack

Kevin Bending, Peterborough

I AM contacting you in the hope that the YEP may be able to help me to locate any relatives or friends of a 21-year-old man from Yeadon in Yorkshire, who lost his life serving with RAF Bomber Command at the end of the Second World War.

Flight Sergeant Jack Eastwood was the wireless operator in an Avro Lancaster bomber which crashed shortly after taking off from Coningsby in Lincolnshire on July 13, 1945.

Sadly, he lost his life along with the other three crew members on board the aircraft. He is buried at Yeadon Cemetery and was the son of James Edward and Nellie Eastwood of Yeadon.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Jack Eastwood’s death and I would like to make contact with his relatives or friends so that this occasion can be appropriately acknowledged.

My email address is kevin@97squadronassociation.co.uk

‘Mickey Mouse’ pools inadequate

Martin Phillips, Cookridge

The latest figures show that the number of people swimming has declined by 245,000 over the past 12 months.

Hardly surprising if you take Leeds pools for example: the only decent pool – the Aquatics Centre – is based out at Middleton and not easily accessible by public transport.

The majority of people have to put up with ‘Mickey Mouse’ pools like the new one at Holt Park.

Let’s look after our own in UK

Jack Banner, Meanwood

I will, I am sure join many in welcoming the return to health of Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey.

We are reminded weekly that the NHS is short staffed and has very limited funds. How on earth then do we transport staff and field hospitals to West Africa at the expense of the beleaguered NHS?

It is my understanding that once diagnosed with Ebola Ms Cafferkey was flown back to the UK by the Royal Air Force and thence to a specialised isolation unit.

What proportion of this cost was borne by the NHS and we, the taxpayer? Why are we “skint” when it comes to looking after our own ?

Money going down toilet

Richard Williams, Roundhay

I WAS intrigued by the story (YEP, January 29) which revealed the toilets at Leeds train station raked in £200,000 over the course of a year.

This, of course, is due to the fact that you have to pay 40p for the privilege of using them. Having done so on occasion myself, I’m not convinced that represents value for money.

And besides, what sort of first impression does this give to visitors to the city when they alight from their train to find that they have to pay so much to go to the toilet?

Presumably it simply cements in their minds the stereotype of the money –grabbing Yorkshireman we have tried so hard to dispel.